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PUBLIC EDUCATION AND ENFORCEMENT

RESEARCH STUDY – MACOMB, IL, ANALYSIS

SUMMARY

The Public Education and Enforcement 

Research Study (PEERS) was a collaborative 

effort of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the 

Illinois Commerce Commission, and three 

communities in the State of Illinois. The 

purpose of the project was to promote safety at 

highway-rail grade crossings by reducing 

incidents, injuries, and fatalities. FRA tasked 

the John A. Volpe National Transportation 

Systems Center (Volpe Center) with conducting 

a field operational test to determine the 

effectiveness of the education and enforcement 

programs (Figure 1). The focus of this study 

was to compare the results of the PEERS 

program in Macomb, IL, with the results in 

Arlington Heights, IL. 

The effectiveness of the PEERS activities was 

determined by counting the number of highway

users that violated the crossing warning devices 

during three project phases. Cameras collected 

video images of the crossings when warning 

devices were activated. The video data was

collected for 16 months: 2 months of pretest 

data, 12 months of test data, and 2 months of 

posttest data. The violation counts were 

standardized by the number of occasions 

highway users approached an active crossing. 

The violation rates were compared by time 

period to identify any change in behaviors. 

A study of the PEERS program completed in 

2006 focused on the community of Arlington 

Heights, IL [1]. Arlington Heights had a 

significant decrease in violations from the 

pretest to the posttest period. The results from 

Macomb were compared with Arlington Heights. 

The findings from Macomb were not comparable 

to the results from Arlington Heights. Highwayuser behavior in Macomb was unchanged 

during the study period. The different 

population demographics, characteristics of the 

crossings, and program activities likely 

contributed to the differing results.

Figure 1. Truck Violates the Warning Devices at 

Lafayette Street in Macomb, IL
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RESEARCH RESULTS REPORT 2 | P a g e

BACKGROUND

In 2004, the Secretary of the U.S. Department 

of Transportation issued an Action Plan on 

Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety and 

Trespass Prevention [2]. It identified education 

and enforcement as key initiatives in reducing 

incidents, injuries, and fatalities at highway-rail 

grade crossings. To determine the

effectiveness of education and enforcement as 

safety countermeasures, FRA conducted 

before-during-after field operational tests in 

Illinois communities. These communities 

actively participated in enhanced grade crossing 

education and enforcement activities.

The first stage of this project was completed in 

2006. The research focused on three highwayrail grade crossings in Arlington Heights, IL. 

The results showed that overall violations were 

reduced nearly 31 percent, and the most risky 

pedestrian violations were reduced 76 percent. 

The next stage of work was designed to 

compare the results from Arlington Heights 

with the results from another community. 

Macomb, IL, a rural college town, which 

provides a good contrast to Arlington Heights, 

a suburb of Chicago. 

OBJECTIVES

There were three objectives to this research. 

The first objective was to monitor highway-rail 

grade crossings as education and enforcement 

campaigns were conducted and to provide FRA 

with research data that supports the 

development of education and enforcement 

effectiveness measures to be used in current 

and future rulemaking.

The second objective was to conduct a field 

operational test to determine whether 

community education efforts and enforcement 

activities were successful in reducing violations 

at highway-rail grade crossings in Macomb, IL.

The third objective was to compare the results 

of the field operational tests for Macomb and 

Arlington Heights, IL, to determine whether the 

results of the program were comparable.

RESEARCH METHODS

The effectiveness of the education and 

enforcement programs in Macomb were 

analyzed by comparing the frequency of 

violations in each study period. The reduction in 

violations from the pretest period to the posttest 

period was used as a measure of the programs’ 

successes. The violation data was categorized 

by several characteristics to provide additional 

information about the crossing users and what 

types of behavior were most affected by the 

PEERS programs.

To reduce the workload and the cost of 

analyzing Macomb data, a sampling of train 

events was used. The researchers used a 

statistically significant sample size at the 

95-percent confidence level. Because 

variations in the data were expected both for 

each crossing and over time, a stratified random 

sample was chosen. 

The results from Arlington Heights and Macomb 

were compared to determine whether the 

PEERS programs had the same effect in 

different communities. Any differences were 

evaluated using knowledge of the programs 

and communities.

RESULTS

Macomb Results

Over the course of the study, overall violation 

rates at the three crossings in Macomb 

increased. When the data was examined in

2-month time periods, it revealed an increase in 

violation rates in the posttest period (see 

Table 1.) Approximately one-half of the 

population in Macomb is composed of students 

at the local university. Every September, 

approximately 25 percent of the students are 

new to Macomb. These new students were not 

exposed to the PEERS programs during the test 

period. The population shift affects the results 

of the PEERS activities.
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RESEARCH RESULTS REPORT 3 | P a g e

Table 1. Violation Counts and Rates by 2-Month Periods

Violation 

Count

Train 

Events

Violation

Rate

Pretest7/1/03-

8/31/03 6,151 2,453 2.51

Test 

Case

9/1/03-

10/31/03 2,906 1,260 2.31

11/1/03-

12/31/03 2,719 1,423 1.91

1/1/04-

2/29/04 1,069 770 1.39

3/1/04-

4/30/04 3,961 1,450 2.73

5/1/04-

6/30/04 5,172 1,461 3.54

7/1/04-

8/31/04 4,236 1,468 2.89

Posttest9/1/04-

10/31/04 4,323 1,463 2.95

Because of the little pedestrian activity at 

crossings in Macomb, the focus of the Macomb 

results was on motorist violations. To better 

understand motorist behavior, the data was 

stratified by crossing. Each crossing has 

different demographics and traffic 

characteristics (see Table 2).

The Ward Street crossing has the lowest 

average annual daily traffic and the lowest 

violation rates. Jackson Street and Lafayette 

Street are both main thoroughfares through 

Macomb. The highway traffic signals at 

Lafayette may explain why there are fewer 

violations at Lafayette than at Jackson. The 

crossing is equipped with preemption to clear 

the tracks when a train is on approach. 

Therefore, a driver would have to run a red light 

before violating the grade crossing.

The violations were categorized by the type of 

behavior. A type I violation occurred when the 

crossing warning lights are flashing, but the 

gates were vertical. A type II violation occurred 

when the gates were in motion. A type III

violation occurred when the gates were in the 

horizontal position. The analysis of violation by 

type revealed that the majority of violations were 

type II violations. The motorists were frequently 

committing type II violations after the train had 

passed and the gates were still ascending. This 

behavior may be perceived as less risky than a 

type II violation before the train arrives. 

Table 2. Violation Counts and Rates by Crossing

Pretest Test Posttest

Ward

Count 1120 3399 749

Rate 1.55 1.26 1.53

Jackson

Count 2960 10469 2504

Rate 3.82 4.35 5.11

Lafayette

Count 1772 5714 964

Rate 1.86 2.10 1.97

Arlington Heights Comparison

The PEERS activities in Arlington Heights and 

Macomb did not yield the same changes in 

highway-user behavior. In Arlington Heights, 

overall violations were reduced by nearly 

31 percent from the pretest to the posttest 

period. In Macomb, there was an increase of 

18.7 percent in overall violations between the 

two periods. These differences could be 

attributed to differences in the programs, 

communities, or crossing characteristics. A 

comparison of violation rates between the two 

communities is shown in Figure 2. 

In Arlington Heights, the rail traffic was primarily 

commuter rail trains. In Macomb, almost all of 

the trains were freight trains. Freight trains can 

be long and generally operate at slower speeds. 

The warning devices in Macomb were active

76 percent longer than in Arlington Heights 

(3.7 versus 2.1 minutes). This may have 

resulted in more motorists violating the crossing 

warning devices in Macomb.

In Arlington Heights, the audience was primarily 

commuters who used the crossing daily. The

student population in Macomb is constantly

changing, and this may make it more difficult to

achieve the level of awareness needed for 

behavior modification.
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RESEARCH RESULTS REPORT 4 | P a g e

Figure 2. Violation Rates by 2-Month Periods, Macomb 

vs. Arlington Heights

The types of programs implemented in each 

community were different. In Arlington Heights, 

the program included frequent police presence 

at the crossings. Macomb adopted a campaign 

that centered on poster campaigns and passive 

means of spreading the safety message. The 

initiatives that specifically targeted crossing 

users were more successful.

CONCLUSIONS

The target audience and design of the PEERS 

programs are very influential in the programs’ 

success. Citizens that use the crossing daily 

may be more likely to internalize the safety 

messages and to adjust their behavior. 

Initiating activities where crossing-users are 

receiving the safety message regularly and 

directly are more effective than passive projects 

dispersed throughout the community.

The effectiveness of highway-rail grade crossing 

safety education and enforcement can vary 

greatly based on program elements. The 

differences in Macomb and Arlington Heights 

illustrate that.

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

7/1/03-

8/31/03

9/1/03-

10/31/03

11/1/03-

12/31/03

1/1/04-

2/29/04

3/1/04-

4/30/04

5/1/04-

6/30/04

7/1/04-

8/31/04

9/1/04-

10/31/04

Macomb Arlington Heights

REFERENCES 

[1] Sposato, S., Bien-Aime, P., & Chaudhary, M. 

(2006 Dec.). Safety of highway-rail grade 

crossings: Public education and enforcement 

research study, final report (Report No. 

DOT/FRA/ORD-06/27, DOT-VNTSC-FRA-06-

03).

[2] U.S. Department of Transportation, 

Secretary of Transportation. (2004 June). 

Secretary’s action plan for highway-rail crossing 

safety and trespass prevention.

CONTACT

Leonard W. Allen III

Federal Railroad Administration 

Office of Railroad Policy and Development 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE – Mail Stop 20 

Washington, DC 20590 

Tel: (202) 493-6329 

Leonard.Allen@dot.gov

KEYWORDS

PEERS, education, enforcement, violations, 

effectiveness, Public Education and 

Enforcement Research Study